


Desperate Measures from the Jaws of Defeat

by AnnaAmell



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Angst, Brotherhood, F/M, Gen, Heavy Angst, In-Laws, Multiple Character Deaths of Varying Degrees of Permanence, Spoilers for Season 5B, Underworld (Once Upon a Time)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-01
Updated: 2016-01-31
Packaged: 2018-05-17 12:56:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,675
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5870494
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnnaAmell/pseuds/AnnaAmell
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This story is based on a Tumblr prompt, dealing with the idea that the only way Killian Jones will stay in the Underworld is if the rest of the main characters stay there with him.  This is a very dark look at how that could happen.</p><p>I'm planning on 2 chapters.  This is completely separate from all of my other fics.  I feel like I should apologize in advance, but it is very dark (particularly in the beginning) and there is severe angst (and a lot of major character death–temporary and otherwise) ahead.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Desperate Measures from the Jaws of Defeat

So, this is what it feels like to lose…everything you’ve…fought for, Emma thinks numbly. They thought they were almost out…they thought they had won. That was their first mistake, and it cost them…oh, how it cost them! The attack came out of nowhere…they never saw it coming…never had a chance….. She feels a wail rising out of her throat and fights it back, but it’s a near thing. She feels the arms around her and Henry squeeze tight and hears the same lilting accent as the man she loves try to comfort her, but it’s wrong…it’s all wrong…the wrong voice…the wrong arms…the wrong m…. It’s not Liam’s fault, she knows, and she knows that he is hurting too; but, for right now, it’s all she can do to hold onto Henry and press desperate kisses into his hair while he shakes with sobs of his own.

Eventually, the storm of emotion…well, not passes exactly, but it wanes enough that she can pull back from Liam and give him a shaky nod. Taking another deep breath to steel herself; and still holding tightly to Henry, she looks over his head to the carnage behind him, ignoring the crumpled forms in black robes…and the one in the suit. Mary Margaret…mom…sits on the ground weeping silently, with David’s…dad’s…head in her lap. He’s not moving…he’ll never move again…he’s…d…. Neither will Regina, lying where she’d been thrown, still reaching desperately for Robin lying just beyond. And K-Killian…he’s here…just at her feet. How can someone who’s already dead, die again?! How can this be happening?! The only reason she’s not holding him…trying to wake him up…trying to kiss him…again…is Liam’s hold and the fact that Henry needs her. She’s just about all he has left…she has to remember that.

She eventually realizes that Liam is talking to her…trying to get her attention, and she forces herself to pay attention to the brother of the man…she loves. He’s asking her if she’s hurt…if Henry’s hurt. They’re not, at least not where you can see. She wonders if it is possible to bleed out from wounds like this…wounds of the heart…. She does not get a chance to think about it too long because suddenly Hades is there…come to offer his sympathies…he says…. Mom must be paying more attention to what’s going on around her than Emma thought because suddenly she’s on her feet, lunging at Hades with an inarticulate scream…. Emma feels Henry flinch, and it echoes her own. Liam tightens his arms around them in response. Hades…let’s her mother’s fury connect…lets her hit him until she seems to run out of energy…and slumps to the ground at his feet…. 

Then, acting as though nothing out of the ordinary has just occurred, the Lord of the Underworld turns to Emma (if Liam holds on any tighter, breathing is going to become an issue) and begins again. He says he’s sorry…he says he did not intend this to happen…he says he was looking forward to seeing the results of her experiment in splitting her heart. He did not know that the Dark Ones…that the Crocodile…intended this attack. He applauds them for winning despite all the odds…. Emma feels a hysterical giggle trying to escape…he calls this winning!?…and represses it just as she did the wail earlier. Henry needs her…she has to remember that…. 

Hades is still talking. Because this attack occurred on his domain…without his orders…he feels some measure of responsibility for their losses, and he would like to offer a solution of sorts…if they’re willing to take a few chances…. He suggests a modification of their earlier plan. Half of Emma’s heart is no longer sufficient to bring Killian back to life, but half of what passes for Liam’s heart…for his soul might be…as he is now a denizen of the Underworld. Killian might never again return to the land of the living, but at least he would…go on in this place of waiting. He would have a chance to eventually move on to peace. Liam is signaling his agreement…is moving before Hades has even stopped speaking…although he first pauses to make sure that Emma and Henry are steady on their feet…and he stops in front of the Underworld’s king. Emma calls Killian’s brother’s name softly, and he gives her a smile of reassurance and says only that he must try for his little brother. In less than a heartbeat, Hades hand is in Liam’s chest, and he’s pulling out something that resembles a heart…only much more golden. With a flick of his wrists, Hades has split it in half…Liam’s grunt of pain makes Emma flinch again…before replacing half in his chest. Walking over to where Emma and Henry stand over Killian’s b…over Killian…he bends down and pushes the other half into his chest. Nothing happens for a moment…but then Killian takes a sharp breath…and then another. His eyes pop open in panic…the last thing he saw was the blow that k-killed him…the blow that was headed towards Emma, with Henry behind her…she’s on her knees hugging him and sobbing…and she doesn’t know how she got here…but she’s holding him, and she’ll never let him go. His arms go around her, and she sobs harder at how right it feels…until Henry worms his way into the hug and then it feels even more right…. 

It is some time before she comes back to herself…and sees that Liam is also on his knees…hugging Killian from behind, while Mary Margaret looks on forlornly, and Hades looks at them with something like fondness. Her three…Liam is one of hers now…boys help her to her feet, and Killian sucks in a breath at the sight which greets his horrified gaze. Liam fills him in on the bits of the attack which he missed on account of being twice d-dead and on the solution that allowed them to fix at least this one part of the tragedy. Killian tugs Emma and Henry into his arms; and with his brother at his shoulder, they turn again to face Hades.

Mary Margaret…her voice thready…reminds the King of Death that he said there were a…few chances they could take. Now, Hades looks a little uncomfortable. David and the others, having only d-died the once, he explains, can be revived by half of the heart of a living individual. Unfortunately, they only have two hearts that can be so split: Emma’s and Henry’s. Henry’s half a heart should be sufficient to save Regina…since she is his other True Love; and Emma’s…well as the Savior, Emma can use half of her heart to revive either David or Robin…. But, she will have to decide who will not be going home, and she must keep in mind that Killian cannot leave this place. There are apparently rules that not even Hades can break.

Henry is already trying to move towards his other mom, but Emma holds him back. She wants to know…wants Hades to tell them…how much risk…how much danger there is for Henry. When Henry turns a betrayed look on her, Emma promises that they’ll use half of her heart for Regina if it comes to that…ignoring Mary Margaret’s whimper, but she needs him to be safe. Hades promises that there is no danger in this case…that he can see the strength of Henry’s heart, and he guarantees it will work. When she still hesitates, he reminds her that he owes them a debt…that he will not be foresworn. When Henry nods this time, she agrees; and Killian holds them even tighter. Hades moves back in front of their group, and the process is accomplished in short order, with Killian and Emma holding Henry desperately throughout. Moving over to Regina, Hades uses half of Henry’s heart to bring her back to life; and she wakes much as Killian had. Before she has a chance to turn to look for Robin, Henry…Emma let him go this time…has thrown himself into her arms.

It takes only a few minutes to bring Regina up to speed, and she and Mary Margaret are both trying not to look as though they are looking at Emma expectantly. Neither of them, Emma notices, are willing to look at the other; and Emma knows that they understand that one happy ending will cost another. Leaning back into Killian’s arms…feeling his warmth—his love surrounding her, Emma knows what she has to do. She nods her readiness to Hades, and stands as still as she can as he removes her heart…as he splits it. She asks him if she can be the one to complete the process, and she swears she sees approval in his eyes as he hands her both halves. Quickly, she walks to David and kneels down to gently shove half of her heart into his chest. While everyone’s eyes are on him…except Regina who has hidden her face in Henry’s hair…and Killian whose eyes never leave Emma…Emma quickly takes the few steps to Robin’s side, kneels down and…despite Killian’s shout…pushes the other half of her heart into the former thief’s chest.

The…uproar…and subsequent explanations…that results from that decision take a while to die down. What it basically boils down to is the fact that Emma is not leaving this place without the love of her life; and if that makes her selfish, then so be it. This can be her happy ending…she insists; and if she doesn’t need her heart, why shouldn’t her parents and her friends both get their own happy endings back?


End file.
